Apparatus for permanently waving hair on the human head



F. J. HALE Jan. 10, 1956 APPARATUS FOR PERMANENTLY WAVING HAIR ON THE HUMAN HEAD Filed Jan. 6, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

FRANK J. HALE ATTORNEY Jan. 10, 1956 F. J. HALE APPARATUS FOR PERMANENTLY WAVING HAIR ON THE HUMAN HEAD Filed Jan. 6, 1951 ATTORNEY Frank Hale, New York, N. Y.

Application January 6, 1951, Serial No. 204,733

4 Claims. (c1. 132-42 This invention relates to a method and apparatus for permanently waving hair on the human head. More particularly, my invention pertains to a process and means for forming permanent ringlets in hair on the human head.

Permanent waving, as generally practiced today, follows the well known Croquignole process wherein hair on the human head is blocked into tresses each of whose roots define an oblong area on the scalp, the length of which very substantially exceeds its width. Each tress is wound, layer upon layer, onto a curler rod which usually is of concave shape. The hair is permanently set in this shape thereby creating an elongated, sausage-shaped basic permanent curl. This shape of curl is not suitable for most coiffures so that the permanent sausage curls must be reshaped into temporary ringlets suitably positioned for the coiifure. Such transformation not only has to be efiected for the first coiflure after the permanent wave is imparted, but must be done again for every subsequent coilfure setting. The transformation is a roundabout process involving a basic change in curl structure which is time-consuming and reduces the curl strength, i. e. the tendency to retain the curl shape. Accordingly a coitfure set gradually will revert to the sausage-shaped permanent curl and necessitates a new temporary setting. Moreover the transformation requires a peculiar skill in the setting of firm true ringlets. Since most women lack this skill, results often are poor, and in the hands of a home user ordinarily are non-uniform.

It is an object of my invention to provide an'apparatus and method which overcomes the foregoing difiiculties.

More specifically it is an object of my invention to provide an apparatus and method through whose use sausageshaped permanent curls and the consequent necessity of reshaping is eliminated, and the frequency of temporary setting is reduced.

Even more specifically it is an object of my invention to provide an apparatus and method through whose use hair is set permanently in ringlets that substantially duplicate the curl structure of natural curly hair whereby no reshaping is necessary and the life of a temporary set is greatly increased, to the order of that of natural curly hair.

It is another object of my invention to provide an apparatus and method of the character described which are designed for professional and home use, but which are particularly valuable for home waving, and through whose employment a comparatively unskilled person can give either herself or another person a cold permanent wave which looks, feels and behaves like natural curly hair. 65

It is another object of my invention to provide an apparatus of the character described which is of inherently simple construction and is extremely easy to use.

It is another object of my invention to provide an apparatus and method of the character described through 70 whose use hair being permanently waved will be set in a desired coift'ure as part of the permanent waving operanited Statesv Patent C 2,730,110 Patented Jan. 10,1956

tion whereby the first coitfure setting operation after imparting a permanent wave is eliminated.

It is another object of my invention to provide an apparatus and method of the character described through whose use the hair can be wound in any desired direction, i. e., clockwise or counterclockwise, and can be employed in the initial setting operation to provide either right or left pin curls.

Other objects of my invention will in part be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

My invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangements of parts and series of steps which will be exemplified in the constructions and method hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown various possible embodiments of my invention,

Fig. l is a perspective view of a waving unit constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged central longitudinal sectional view through said waving unit;

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken substantially along the lines 33 and 4-4, respectively, of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the unit at an early stage of a winding operation;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the unit at the completion of the winding operation and after the Wound tress has been secured against unwinding;

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the wound tress during transfer from the waving unit to its position for coifiure setting;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the tress during coiifure setting;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a waving unit embodying a modified form of my invention;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged central longitudinal sectional view through the waving unit shown in Fig. 9;

Fig. 11 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line ill-11 of Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is an end view of said waving unit;

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but showing the waving unit of Fig. 9;

Fig. 14 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line -14 of Fig. 13; and

Fig. 15 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 1515 of Fig. 14.

In general, I carry out the method aspect of my invention by blocking hair on a human head into tresses each of whose roots define an approximately square area on a scalp. The hair is wound on a short spindle in such fashion that adjacent convolutions of the wound tress lie completely over one another. After permanently waving a tress wound in the foregoing manner, said tress, while still wet, is compressed axially into the form of a ringlet and slipped off the spindle. At the same time, the ringlet is rotated about an axis parallel to the scalp thereby to orient the ringlet in parallelism with the scalp in a conventional position for coilfure setting. The ringlet is held in such position until the hair is dry.

The method of my invention may be practiced with the step of drying the hair in pin curl form eliminated. Such elimination is permissible, not because it is desirable to omit the step, but due to the fact that an important advantage of my invention resides in permanently waving the .hair in ringlets such as described, regardless of how the ringlets are handled for the first coiffure setting operation.

The apparatus aspect of my invention is carried out by providing a curling spindle of a length which is short in comparison with a curling spindle that is used for conventional permanent Waving, and of a diameter which is thick in comparison with that of a conventional permanent waving curling spindle.

More specifically, I employ a curling spindle whose length does not exceed two inches and whose effective curling surface is only about one and one-half inches long. This is in contrastto the length of a conventional :permanent waving curling spindle whose length exceeds :two inches and usually is considerably longer due to the fact, that, pursuant to the principles of Croquignole waving, .the area defined by the roots of a tress is a substantially elongated oblong. The minimum diameter of a curling spindle embodying my invention is three-sixteenths of an inch, but I prefer to employ a minimum diameter of larger order, e. g..in the neighborhood of three-eighths of an inch, and have obtained excellent results with diameters up to as large as three-quarters of an inch. .Such larger diameters, i. e. from three-eighths of an inch upward, are preferred inasmuch as they result in the creation of a ringlet curl of conventional diameter such as is customary to employ when setting hair for coiffure purposes.

Although usable curls can be formed with a straight curling spindle, I prefer to have the curling spindle tapered since this facilitates the axial compression of a wound tress and removal of the tress from the curling spindle. The small end of the curling spindle should have a diameter not less than three-sixteenths of an inch nor in excess of nine-sixteenths of an inch; the larger end of the curling spindle should range from three-eighths to three-quarters of an inch. Preferably, the taper in diameter should be in the order of three-thirty-seconds of an inch per linear inch of the spindle.

The curling spindle further includes a flexible elongated member having one end adapted to be detachably secured to an end of the spindle and having its other end secured detachably or permanently to the other end of the spindle. Said elongated member functions to retain a wound tress on the spindle.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. l-8,'the reference numeral 20 denotes a waving unit embodying my invention. Said unit comprises a spindle 22 of relatively rigid material, for example, a stiff plastic inert to the chemicals used in the hair waving process. One end 24 of the spindle is Wider than the other end 26, said spindle tapering uniformlyfrom its wide to its narrow end. By way of example, the spindle may be composed of any one of the well known synthetic plastics, e. g., cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, polystrene, of a phenol formaldehyde condensation product. To expedite gripping of the distal end of a tress to be wound, the spindle is scalloped longitudinally, i. e. provided with a series of shallow angular, annular depressions 28 connected by rounded annular ridges 30. For the same purpose, the surface of the spindle is formed with longitudinally extending slots .32.

The waving unit further includes an elongated flexible member such as a strap 34 which is formed from a flexible material, e. g. an elastomer such as rubber or any one of the well known elastomeric plastics, for example, polyethylene. It is within the scope of my invention to have both the strap and spindle formed from the same plastic material, the strap being flexible because of its comparatively slight thickness and the spindle being stiff because of its greater thickness.

One end of the strap 34 is connected to the wide end 24 of the spindle by a thin band 36 which, for convenience, is molded in one piece with the strap and spindle.

The other end of the spindle carries one half of a detachable attaching means designed to rapidly couple or uncouple with the other half of said means located at the narrow end 26 of the spindle. More specifically, the end of the strap 34 remote from the band 36 is secured to the center of a bar 33 having spaced through openings 40 adjacent its ends, each said opening being connected by a slit 42 with a different end of the bar. The bar,

like the band, is made of flexible material and may be tackled .QII 9 nie e therew th- T n rr w e 6 of the spindle is fashioned with a knob 44 connected to said spindle by a constricted neck 46. The diameter of the knob exceeds slightly the diameter of the opening 40 in the bar; and the diameter of the neck 46 is slightly less than said diameter of the opening.

To use the unit 20, the hair on a head 48 is blocked off, as indicated in Fig. 5, to subdivide the hair into a series of tresses 50 or bundles'of strands having an approximately square base configuration.

If the permanent'waving is to be carried out by a process known as cold waving, the tresses are processed with a softening or waving solution (these terms are used herein interchangeably). Many such solutions are well known to the art. Mention is made here, only by way of example, of a typical softening solution, to wit, one principally including a reducing agent such as ammonium thiogly'collate. i Y

After the tress has .been suitably wet, the distal end .thereof is wrapped around the spindle 22. If desired, a

protective end paper first may be placed on this end of the tress. The spindle is rotated in either a clockwise .or counterclockwise sense about its longitudinal axis towardthe proximal end of the tress, said spindle being held substantially parallel to the scalp in this region, so

that successive convolutions of the tress overlie one another and are coextensive, although, as is usual, successiveconvolutions will expand somewhat longitudinally of the spindle.

When the tressis completely wound, the free end of thes trap 34 isattachedto the narrow end of the spindle by forcing the opening 40 in the bar 38 around the constricted neck 46 of said spindle. It will be observed that the strap can bernanipulated in this manner becausev of flexibility of the band 36 as well as the inherent fiexibility of the strap itself. With the strap so arranged. it

.."'' i on nga e outer convolution of the wound tress-and thereby prevent the tress from unwinding. The position of the wound tress at such time is shown in Fig.- 6.

The wound tress is permitted to stand long enough for the wavingsolution to functionas is well known and then tion can be applie d subsequent to winding of the tress, although ,I prefer wetting the tress before winding in order to insure uniform and thorough penetration by said solution.

After the neutralizing solution has been permitted to act upon the softened wound tress sufficiently long to reharden the hair in a conventional manner and thereby permanently wave the same, the'bar 40 is detached from the narrow end of the spindle and the wound wet tress is axially compressed manually to transform the Wound tress from a short elongated tube into a thin, fiat centrally 'apertured disk 52 known as a ringlet or pin curl. As: the tress is flattened in the foregoing manner, it is stripped from the spindle, this action ,being facilitated by the tapered shape of said spindle. Simultaneously with or after flattening the wound tress, the pin curl 52 is turned about an axis parallel to the scalp and perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of the spindle so that the plane of the curl is arrangedpar allelto the scalp as shown in Fig. 7. The pin curl is placed close to the scalp and is held in such position in any suitable fashion, as for example, with the ai d of a bobbiepin54. (See Fig. 8).

mitted to dry whereby when subsequently the hair is combed out, it can be set in the same manner as if it had been hand set by a beauty parlor operator in the usual manner after permanent waving and drying. It will be noted that by practising my invention, I have eliminated the need for reshaping the hair after completion of a permanent waving operation. More specifically, I have done away with the sausage-shaped permanent curl and with the normal steps of drying the hair after a permanent waving operation, removing the tresses from the permanent waving curlers, combing out the hair, reblocking the scalp so as to form tresses having the proper base configuration for ringlet curls, dampening the tresses with water or a non-permanent waving solution, setting said tresses in ringlets or pin curls, and permitting said curls to dry.

A tress wound in accordance with my invention has a wave configuration which closely approximates that of a natural ringlet; that is to say, such a tress has a base whose length and breadth are approximately equal, and all the strands of the tress conjointly define a laminated cylinder whose adjacent convolutions lie directly over one another. After a tress of this structure is shampooed or wetted and then dried and combed out it will tend to resume its original permanent wave configuration and therefore is extremely easy to coiifure set as a pin curl. Thus an entire head of hair waved pursuant to my invention may be hand set easily at any time after the permanent waving operation. The hand setting can be practised after shampooing or whenever a woman wishes to reset her hair. It now will be appreciated that the basic wave imparted has a two-fold usefulness, to wit, it facilitates the initial coiifure setting operation and it facilitates all subsequent coifiure setting operations, the former because a pin curl is taken directly ofi the spindle and the latter because the waved hair closely approximates a naturally wavy tress.

A permanent wave created with the aid of my apparatus and method thus is to be distinguished generally from one created by conventional present day methods wherein because of the sausage-shaped permanent curl created, a tress cannot be transformed directly into a pin curl and will not, subsequent to shampooing, fall into the shape of a tress of naturally curly hair so as to be easily resettable as a pin curl.

In the modified form of my invention shown in Figs. 9-15, I provide a waving unit 60 including a stiff spindle 62 of the same over-all dimensions as the spindle 22; that is to say, the spindle 62 is short, thick and tapered, and within the same critical range of sizes as is specified for the spindle 22. Like the spindle 22, the spindle 62 is scalloped longitudinally and is provided with longitudinally extending grooves, these latter being somewhat narrower than the grooves 32.

The spindle 62 distinguishes basically from the spindle 22 in the type of elongated flexible member employed therewith, in the mode of permanent connection between said spindle and an end of said member, and in the mode of detachable connection between said spindle and the opposite end of said member. More specifically, the spindle 62 has associated therewith a cord 64 made of a highly resilient flexible material, such for example as rubber or an elastomeric material. Integrally with one end of the cord is formed a button 66 (See Fig. 10) and with the other end a bead 68. The button 66 is disposed in a blind longitudinal bore 70 whose open end is located at the wide end of the spindle 62. The button is captively held in said bore by a hollow sleeve 72 disposed at the open end of the bore, and suitably held, for eX- ample, with an adhesive. The sleeve is apertured to pass the cord 64. Said cord is somewhat longer than the length of the spindle. The narrow end of the spindle is formed with a plurality of intersecting slots 74 which extend from side to side of the spindle. The width of said slots is slightly less than the diameter of the cord 64.

The waving unit 60 is used essentially in the same manner as the waving unit 20, the only difference therebetween being in the mode of holding of the wound tress adjacent the scalp. The waving unit 20 employs a strap 34 for this purpose, as shown in Fig. 6, whereas the waving unit 60 employs the cord 64 for the same purpose, as shown in Fig. 13. The cord is held detachably at the narrow end of the spindle by frictional insertion in one of the slots 74.

It thus will be seen that I have provided hair waving apparatuses and a method which achieve the several objects of my invention and meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiments above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter and steps herein described, or shown in the accompanying drawings, is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A short, stifi, thick, unidirectionally tapered spindle, the wide end of said spindle having a diameter from three-eighths to three-quarters of an inch and the narrow end of spindle having a diameter from three-sixteenths to nine-sixteenths of an inch, the taper being in the order of three-thirty-seconds of an inch per linear inch of spindle, said spindle having a length no greater than two inches, whereby a tress wound Croquignole style on the spindle can after being permanently waved thereon and while still wet be compressed axially into the form of a ringlet and slipped off the spindle, the external surface of the spindle being longitudinally scalloped to provide a series of shallow annular depressions connected by shallow annular ridges, the diameters of said ridges being progressively slightly smaller from the wide to the narrow end of the spindle.

2. A hair curling spindle as set forth in claim I having several circumferentially spaced longitudinal channels in its external surface.

3. A unidirectionally tapered short hair curling spindle having its external surface longitudinally scalloped to provide several longitudinally spaced shallow annular depressions connected by shallow annular ridges, the diameters of the ridges progressively gradually decreasing from the wide to the narrow end of the spindle.

4. A unidirectionally tapered short hair curling spindle having several circumferentially spaced longitudinal channels in its external surface, said external surface further including several longitudinally spaced rounded annular ridges, the diameters of said ridges progressively gradually decreasing from the wide to the narrow end of said spindle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,896,617 Goodman Feb. 7, 1933 2,244,707 Jacobs June 10, 1941 2,328,192 Casieri Aug. 31, 1943 2,395,965 Grant Mar. 5, 1946 2,396,782 Grant Mar. 19, 1946 2,411,336 Reiter Nov. 19, 1946 2,426,760 Caldora Sept. 2, 1947 2,452,225 Coloccia Oct. 26, 1948 2,518,262 Wilson Aug. 8, 1950 2,630,810 Solomon Mar. 10, 1953 2,642,072 Cipolla June 16, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 678,876 Great Britain Sept. 10, 1952 

